The list of watches getting the update isn’t long.
Google announced the merger of Wear and tear OS and Tizen at its I/O conference this year. Since then, the corporate has been slowly but steadily sharing more details about the subsequent iteration of Wear and tear OS.
Google has now detailed that the subsequent release of Wear and tear OS will be called Wear OS 3. The OS update will make its thanks to some selected Wear OS smartwatches, though there are tons of terms and conditions attached here.
Wear OS 3 Will Be an Opt-In Update
In a post on Google’s support forum, Community manager Allie confirmed that “a system update to Wear OS 3 will bring the advantage of many of the new experiences.” However, in some cases, the update might impact the user experience by negatively affecting the device performance or battery life.
The update also will require users to reset their smartwatch during the installation process, though this could not be much of a problem for many users.
The bigger issue is that Google acknowledges that some Wear OS smartwatches won’t offer the simplest experience while running Wear OS 3. thanks to this, the corporate will offer the Wear and tear OS update on an opt-in basis for compatible watches.
Wear OS 3 Is Coming to Only a Handful of Existing Smartwatches
Sadly, the list of Wear and tear OS smartwatches that will get the Wear and tear OS 3 update isn’t long. Mobvoi’s TicWatch Pro 3 (GPS and cellular) and, therefore, the TicWatch E3 is the sole existing Wear OS smartwatches eligible to receive the Wear and tear OS 3 update.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, Google expects these smartwatches to urge the Wear and tear OS 3 update in the “mid to last half of 2022.” That’s a wait of over a year or more for an update which may also cause some performance and user experience issues.
Samsung and Fossil are expected to launch new Wear OS smartwatches later this year running Wear OS 3. Therefore the delay is going to be even more frustrating for existing owners of those smartwatches.
No Updates for Fossil or Samsung Smartwatches
All other existing Wear OS smartwatches from Fossil, OPPO, and Mobvoi won’t get the update, though Google states that each upcoming smartwatch from these companies, thanks to launching later this year, will get the Wear and tear OS 3 update. Interestingly, Fossil has confirmed that it’ll still add new software features on its Gen 5 and Gen 5E smartwatches.
All existing Tizen-based smartwatches from Samsung, including the Galaxy Watch 4, also will not get the Wear and tear OS 3 update.
It’s clear Google is bringing Wear OS 3 to only those smartwatches powered by Qualcomm’s Wear 4100 platform, with support for older versions of the platform being dropped.
For all existing Wear OS smartwatches that will not get the Wear and tear OS 3 update, Google promises a minimum of two years of security updates from their launch date. It’ll also still bring new app experiences to those wearables through the Google Play Store.
